On the subject of Instagram followers, it’s no shock that the G.O.A.T.s of each males’s and ladies’s CrossFit, Mat Fraser and Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr, are main the charts as the 2 athletes with the most important followings; Toomey-Orr has 2 million, whereas Fraser has 2.3 million.
- What’s maybe extra stunning is that current stars, together with 2024 CrossFit Video games champion James Sprague (78,500 followers) and second-place finisher Dallin Pepper (91,500 followers), for instance, have very small followings as compared, regardless of their stellar accomplishments.
- Equally, the ladies who positioned second and third at final summer season’s Video games, Gabi Migala and Emily Rolfe, have simply 131,000 and 102,000 followers, respectively.
This prompted us to dig a bit deeper, uncovering an intriguing truth: all CrossFit Video games athletes with at the very least 1 million followers participated of their first CrossFit Video games earlier than 2016.
- The only real exception is Dani Speegle, who debuted on the Video games in 2019 and now boasts 1.8 million followers. Her participation within the Titan Video games on NBC in 2020 could have performed a job on this.
The 1 Million Followers Membership
This desk consists of CrossFit Video games athletes with a couple of million followers, the primary 12 months they competed on the CrossFit Video games, and their present Instagram follower rely:
| First 12 months on the Video games | Identify | IG Followers |
| 2009 | Annie Thorisdottir | 1.3 million |
| 2010 | Wealthy Froning | 1.4 million |
| 2010 | Camille Leblanc-Bazinet | 1.2 million |
| 2012 | Katrin Davidsdottir | 1.6 million |
| 2013 | Marcus Filly | 1.1 million |
| 2014 | Mat Fraser | 2.3 million |
| 2014 | Lauren Fisher | 1 million |
| 2015 | Brooke Wells | 1.8 million |
| 2015 | Brooke Ence | 1.4 million |
| 2015 | Sara Sigmundsdottir | 1.6 million |
| 2015 | Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr | 2 million |
Two honorable mentions close to the million mark embrace different pre-2016 Video games athletes: Noah Ohlsen (869,000 followers) and Josh Bridges (856,000 followers).
Why This Issues
No matter your emotions in the direction of social media, changing into knowledgeable athlete or establishing a model and enterprise after your aggressive profession hinges on one essential issue: followers. They’re important for attracting sponsorships and producing income for manufacturers and companies.
Living proof: Marcus Filly competed on the Video games 3 times – in 2013, 2014, and 2016 – and by no means positioned larger than twelfth. However, these experiences enabled him to make a reputation for himself, appeal to a following, and set up his extremely profitable Functional Bodybuilding firm after concluding his aggressive profession.
- The identical applies to Lauren Fisher. Her early success enabled her to domesticate a powerful social media following and set up her personal enterprise, Grown Strong, which is a health firm for ladies.
With that in thoughts, let’s take a look at the Instagram follower counts of current stars within the sport Video games athletes who rose to fame between 2016 and 2018 or rose to prominence after 2019.
2016-2018
Firstly, there’s Laura Horvath, who completed second on the Video games in 2018. She has 453,000 followers.
- Provided that she has earned a spot on the Video games podium 4 instances and received the title in 2023, you would possibly anticipate this quantity to be larger.
The identical holds for each Brent Fikowski and Pat Vellner, who first competed on the Video games in 2016 and are fan favorites recognized for his or her distinctive personalities and a number of podium finishes.
- Vellner has 638,000 followers, whereas Fikowski has 684,000.
Value noting: Horvath, Fikowski, and Vellner rank among the many prime CrossFit athletes on this planet, every boasting a number of podium finishes and prolonged careers within the sport. Horvath has competed within the Video games seven instances, whereas Vellner and the now-retired Fikowski have participated 9 instances.
- Compared, 4 athletes from the pre-2016 Video games on our checklist with over 1 million followers — Filly, Fisher, Wells, and Ence — by no means reached the rostrum. Moreover, Ence participated within the Video games solely as soon as.
2019-Current
The numbers from 2019 to 2025 stay considerably decrease amongst athletes who made their debut on the Video games throughout these years and earned a podium end.
- Two-time Video games champion Justin Medeiros, who began competing on the Video games in 2020, has 559,000 followers. Two-time podium finisher Roman Khrennikov — who positioned in 2022 and 2023 — has 261,000. Moreover, 2023 Video games champion Jeff Adler boasts 190,000.
As soon as once more, final 12 months’s first- and second-place finishers, Sprague and Pepper, every have fewer than 100,000 followers.
On the ladies’s aspect, 2023 second-place finisher Emma Lawson has 337,000 followers, whereas four-time Video games veteran Arielle Loewen, who completed third in 2023, has 124,000.
- As soon as once more, as famous above, 2024 medalist and six-time Video games veteran Migala has 131,000 followers, whereas final 12 months’s bronze medalist, Rolfe, has 102,000.
That mentioned, three different athletes are arguably fan favorites who’ve damaged the development: Speegle, Danielle Brandon (811,000 followers), and Brazilian star Gui Malheiros (646,000). All three athletes first competed on the Video games in 2019.
This raises the query: why do athletes from the Video games previous to 2016 have essentially the most followers?
A Principle
Apart from the truth that veteran athletes merely had an extended time to build up followers, there’s one other potential rationalization for the discrepancy. Whereas it’s not an ideal concept, after we think about Instagram followers alongside the ebb and circulation of whole CrossFit associates worldwide, it seems we could be onto one thing. (Sure, correlation isn’t causation, but it surely might observe when it comes to general curiosity.)
The full variety of CrossFit associates grew slowly between 2002 and 2010. Listed here are some milestones:
- Fall 2002: one affiliate
- Summer season 2004: 4 associates
- Fall 2007: 250 associates
- Summer season 2008: 500 associates
- Winter 2009: 1,000 associates
- Summer season 2010: 2,500 associates
Then, in 2011, Reebok turned the title sponsor of the CrossFit Video games, and curiosity started to soar.
- Between 2011 and 2014, the variety of CrossFit associates elevated from 3,000 to 10,000 worldwide.
It may be argued that enthusiasm for CrossFit peaked throughout this period, and elite athletes who rose via the ranks gained social media followers in consequence.
The full variety of CrossFit associates continued to develop till 2018, when it topped out at 15,500 worldwide. Nonetheless, that 12 months additionally marked the second when CrossFit purged its complete media staff.
- CrossFit nearly fully ceased producing media content material, which meant they not promoted athletes via their CrossFit Video games documentaries, YouTube channel, and articles on their web site. Naturally, this additionally led to athletes being tagged much less usually on social media.
In 2019, CrossFit suspended all actions on its Fb and Instagram accounts, citing privateness considerations. This choice arguably made it much more troublesome for athletes to develop their social media followings.
CrossFit affiliation has been declining since 2018, additional exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, which resulted within the closure of many gyms.
As of final month, the map confirmed there have been 9,899 associates.
The Backside Line
Social media can have an amazing impression in relation to changing into knowledgeable athlete and constructing a model and enterprise.
Whatever the motive, it appears more difficult for immediately’s CrossFit athletes to garner the identical stage of social media fanfare as CrossFit Video games athletes who emerged on the scene earlier than 2016.
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Featured Picture: @munemqureshi / Instagram